{"id":587178,"date":"2026-10-09T08:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=587178"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T08:26:08","slug":"trial-begins-in-lithuania-over-alleged-plot-to-assassinate-political-figures-belarusian-among-defendants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/trial-begins-in-lithuania-over-alleged-plot-to-assassinate-political-figures-belarusian-among-defendants","title":{"rendered":"Trial Begins in Lithuania Over Alleged Plot to Assassinate Political Figures; Belarusian Among Defendants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A court in Vilnius will hold its first hearing today in a case concerning preparations for an assassination attempt against Russian politician Ruslan Gabbasov<\/b> and Lithuanian public figure Valdas Bartkevi\u010dius<\/b>.<\/p>\n

According to BNS<\/a>, the first hearing will focus on procedural matters, including setting dates for hearings on the merits. The trial will be held behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

Six defendants have been charged. They include Georgian nationals living in Greece, Poland and Germany, citizens of Lithuania and Ukraine, and Belarusian national Vadzim Duboiski<\/b>.<\/p>\n

They are accused of forming an organised terrorist group, financing terrorist activities, engaging in terrorist activities for terrorist purposes, preparing to commit a terrorist act, illegally collecting information about a person’s private life, illegally possessing software and passwords, assisting another state in activities against Lithuania, and illegally possessing drugs without intent to distribute them.<\/p>\n

The case was separated from an investigation<\/a> involving 14 people suspected of terrorist acts and other crimes.<\/p>\n

According to the prosecution, the six defendants were preparing to murder Ruslan Gabbasov, leader of the Bashkir national movement, in Lithuania because of his public opposition to the current Russian government. Lithuanian public figure Valdas Bartkevi\u010dius was allegedly targeted because of his work providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The investigation began in 2025 after Gabbasov contacted the police, having discovered a tracking device in his car. Police determined that there was a real threat to his life and health. The suspected intended perpetrators of the planned assassination were identified. Investigators also established that the group was preparing an attempt on Bartkevi\u010dius.<\/p>\n

The main suspects were detained in Vilnius in March last year. Four of them are currently in custody.<\/p>\n

The potential victims had been under surveillance since 2024, including through the use of technical equipment. The surveillance was carried out by citizens of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, Moldova and Greece who either lived in Lithuania or travelled to the country for that purpose.<\/p>\n

In early 2026, an international police operation was conducted, with searches carried out in Poland, Ukraine and Greece. Several more suspects were detained. It was also established that the alleged organisers were acting in the interests of Russia’s Main Directorate of the General Staff (GRU), according to earlier reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A court in Vilnius will hold its first hearing today in a case concerning preparations for an assassination attempt against Russian politician Ruslan Gabbasov and Lithuanian public figure Valdas Bartkevi\u010dius. According to BNS, the first hearing will focus on procedural matters, including setting dates for hearings on the merits. The trial will be held behind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":537133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/6ac8a5245d3a0.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Trial Begins in Lithuania Over Alleged Plot to Assassinate Political Figures; Belarusian Among Defendants"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143284,143090],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-587178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-world","category-politics"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":587180,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587178\/revisions\/587180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}